BJP MLA T. Raja Singh, currently incarcerated in Cherlapalli jail on charges of hate speech, claimed to have only imitated stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui that too based on the information provided on Google. He denied hurting any religion’s sentiments or having criticised any religion, hence he had not violated the constitution of the party.
In the reply to the show cause notice, issued to him in August, to the member secretary of the party disciplinary committee Om Pathak on Monday, a copy of which was made available to the media, Mr. Singh appealed for an opportunity to continue to serve the BJP and the nation. The Goshamahal Legislator promised not to do anything that brings disrespect to the party and that he would work within the ideology and principles of the party.
At the same time, Mr. Singh sought to defend himself stating that he did not use any abusive or harsh language, did not mention the name of any individual in his video message and did not deliberately hurt the sentiments of any religion. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government had filed a false case against him intentionally and though the court had dismissed the case against him, he has been detained in jail invoking the Preventive Detention Act.
